Autonomous prefectures of the People's Republic of China

This article is part of the series: Administrative divisions of China

Provincial level Municipalities (直辖市; zhíxiáshì) Provinces (省; shěng) Autonomous regions (自治区; zìzhìqū) Special administrative regions (特别行政区; tèbié xíngzhèngqū)

Sub-provincial level Sub-provincial cities (副省级市; fùshěngjí shì) Sub-provincial autonomous prefectures (副省级自治州; fùshěngjí zìzhìzhōu) Sub-provincial city districts (副省级市辖区; fùshěngjí shìxiáqū)

Prefectural level Prefectures (地区; dìqū) Prefecture-level cities (地级市; dìjíshì) Autonomous prefectures (自治州; zīzhìzhōu) Leagues (盟; méng)

Sub-prefecture-level Sub-prefectural cities (副地级市; fùdìjíshì)

County level Counties (县; xiàn) Autonomous counties (自治县; zìzhìxiàn) County-level cities (县级市; xiànjíshì) City districts (市辖区; shìxiáqū) Ethnic districts Banners (旗; qí) Autonomous banners (自治旗; zìzhìqí) Forestry areas (林区; línqū) Special districts (特区; tèqū)

Township level Townships (乡; xiāng) Ethnic townships (民族乡; mínzúxiāng) Towns (镇; zhèn) Subdistricts (街道办事处; jiēdào bànshìchù) Sumus (苏木; sūmù) Ethnic sumus (民族苏木; mínzúsūmù) District public offices (abolishing) (区公所; qū gōngsuǒ)

Village level Village Committees (村民委员会; cūnmín-wěiyuánhùi) Neighborhood Committees (居民委员会; jūmín-wěiyuánhùi)

History of the political divisions of China

Autonomous prefectures (Chinese: 自治州; pinyin: zìzhìzhōu) are one type of autonomous areas of China, existing at the prefectural level, with either ethnic minorities forming over 50% of the population or being the historic home of significant minorities. All autonomous prefectures are mostly dominated, in population, by the Han Chinese. The official name of an autonomous prefecture includes the most dominant minority in that region, sometimes two, rarely three. For example, a Kazakh (Kazak in official naming system) prefecture may be called Kazak Zizhizhou. Like all other prefectural level divisions, autonomous prefectures are divided into county level divisions. There is one exception: Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture contains two prefectures of its own. Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, autonomous prefectures cannot be abolished.

List of Autonomous prefectures

Province	Name	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	Designated minority	Local name	Capital
Gansu	Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture	临夏回族自治州	Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hui	(The Hui speak Chinese) Xiao'erjing: لٍ ﺷﯿَا ﺧُﻮِ ذُﻮْ ذِ جِ ﺟِﻮْ‎	Linxia
Gansu	Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	甘南藏族自治州	Gānnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: ཀན་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Kan-lho Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Hezuo
Guizhou	Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture	黔东南苗族侗族自治州	Qiándōngnán Miáozú Dòngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Miao and Dong	Hmong: Cheej Toob Naj Mioj Txhwj Toom Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb Dong - ?	Kaili
Guizhou	Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	黔南布依族苗族自治州	Qiánnán Bùyīzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Buyei and Miao	Buyei: ? Hmong: Cheej Naj Pwm Yi Txhwj Mioj Txwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Duyun
Guizhou	Qianxi'nan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	黔西南布依族苗族自治州	Qiánxī'nán Bùyīzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Buyei and Miao	Buyei: ? Hmong: Cheej Xyi Naj Pwm Yi Txhwj Mioj Txwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Xingyi
Hubei	Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	恩施土家族苗族自治州	Ēnshī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Tujia and Miao	Tujia: ? Hmong: EE Si Thws Ca Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Enshi
Hunan	Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	湘西土家族苗族自治州	Xiāngxī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Tujia and Miao	Tujia: ? Hmong: Xyaa Xyi Thws Ca Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Jishou
Jilin	Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture	延边朝鲜族自治州	Yánbiān Cháoxiǎnzú Zìzhìzhōu	Korean	Korean: 연변 조선족 자치주 Yeonbyeon Joseonjok Jachiju	Yanji
Qinghai	Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	海北藏族自治州	Hǎiběi Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མཚོ་བྱང་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Mtsho-byang Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Haiyan County
Qinghai	Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	海南藏族自治州	Hǎinán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མཚོ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Mtsho-lho Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Gonghe County
Qinghai	Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	黄南藏族自治州	Huángnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: རྨ་ལྷོ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Rma-lho Bod-rigs rang skyong khul	Tongren County
Qinghai	Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	果洛藏族自治州	Guǒluò Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: མགོ་ལོག་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Mgo-log Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Maqên County
Qinghai	Gyêgu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Yushu (Yüxü) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	玉树藏族自治州	Yùshù Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: ཡུལ་ཤུལ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Yul-shul Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Gyêgu County Yushu (Yüxü) County
Qinghai	Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	海西蒙古族藏族自治州	Hǎixī Měnggǔzú Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Mongol and Tibetan	Tibetan: མཚོ་ནུབ་སོག་རིགས་ཆ་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Mtsho-nub Sog-rigs dang Bod-rigs rang-skyong-khul	Delhi
Sichuan	Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture	阿坝藏族羌族自治州	Ābà Zàngzú Qiāngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan and Qiang	Tibetan: རྔ་བ་བོད་རིགས་ཆ་བ༹ང་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Rnga-ba Bod-rigs dang Chavang-rigs rang skyong khul	Barkam County
Sichuan	Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	甘孜藏族自治州	Gānzī Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: དཀར་མཛེས་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Dkar-mdzes Bod-rigs rang-skyong khul	Kangding County
Sichuan	Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture	凉山彝族自治州	Liángshān Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Yi	Yi: / Niepsha Nuosu Zytjiejux dde Zho	Xichang
Xinjiang	Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture	克孜勒苏柯尔克孜自治州	Kèzīlèsū Kē'ěrkèzī Zìzhìzhōu	Kyrgyz	Kyrgyz: كىزىلسۋ كىزگىز اۆتونومييالى وبلاستى‎ (Cyrillic: Кыргыз Кызылсу aвтономиялы oбласты)	Artux
Xinjiang	Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	博尔塔拉蒙古自治州	Bó'ěrtǎlā Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Mongol	Mongolian: ᠪᠣᠷᠣᠲᠠᠯ᠎ᠠ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ (Cyrillic: Борталын Монгол өөртөө засах тойрог)	Bortala
Xinjiang	Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture	昌吉回族自治州	Chāngjí Huízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hui	(The Hui speak Chinese) Xiao'erjing: ﭼْﺎ جِ ﺧُﻮِ ذُﻮْ ذِ جِ ﺟِﻮْ‎	Changji
Xinjiang	Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	巴音郭楞蒙古自治州	Bāyīnguōlèng Měnggǔ Zìzhìzhōu	Mongol	Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠶᠠᠨᠭᠣᠣᠯ ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠭᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠵᠧᠦ (Cyrillic: Баянголын Монгол өөртөө засах тойрог)	Korla
Xinjiang	Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture	伊犁哈萨克自治州	Yīlí Hāsàkè Zìzhìzhōu	Kazakh	Kazakh: ىله قازاق اۆتونومىيالى وبلىسى‎ (Cyrillic: Іле Қазақ автономиялы облысы)	Yining
Yunnan	Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture	德宏傣族景颇族自治州	Déhóng Dǎizú Jǐngpōzú Zìzhìzhōu	Dai and Jingpo	Tai Nüa - Zaiwa：Sikung Sam Zaizo Byumyu Yumsing Upkang Mau	Luxi
Yunnan	Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture	怒江傈僳族自治州	Nùjiāng Lìsùzú Zìzhìzhōu	Lisu	Lisu: / Nolmut lisu shit jilqait guatshit zhou	Lushui County
Yunnan	Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	迪庆藏族自治州	Díqìng Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu	Tibetan	Tibetan: བདེ་ཆེན་བོད་རིགས་རང་སྐྱོང་ཁུལ་ Bde-chen Bod-rigs rang-skyong khul	Xamgyi'nyilha County Xianggelila (Shangri-La) County
Yunnan	Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture	大理白族自治州	Dàlǐ Báizú Zìzhìzhōu	Bai	Bai: Darl•lit Baif•cuf zirl•zirl•zox	Dali
Yunnan	Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture	楚雄彝族自治州	Chǔxióng Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Yi	Yi: ?	Chuxiong
Yunnan	Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture	红河哈尼族彝族自治州	Hónghé Hānízú Yízú Zìzhìzhōu	Hani and Yi	Yi: ? Hani: Haoqhoqzel	Mengzi County
Yunnan	Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	文山壮族苗族自治州	Wenshān Zhuàngzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu	Zhuang and Miao	Zhuang: ? Hmong: Veej Sa Tsuaam Txhwj Mioj Txhwj Txim Tsim Tsawb	Wenshan County
Yunnan	Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture	西双版纳傣族自治州	Xīshuāngbǎnnà Dǎizú Zìzhìzhōu	Dai	Tai Lü:	Jinghong

Ethnic composition of Autonomous Prefectures (2000)

Autonomous Prefecture	Year created	Province	Titular ethnic group	%	Other minorities	%	Han population	Total population
Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Sichuan	Tibetan	54,00 %	Qiang	18,00 %	25,00 %	873,000
Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Mongol	4.12 %	Uyghur	32,7 %	57,5 %	1,224,080
Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Mongol	5.64%	Uyghur	12,53 %	67,19 %	472 918
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	1958	Yunnan	Miao	12.94 %	Zhuang	30,04 %	41,99 %	3 400 000
Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Gansu	Tibetan	51.44 %			41.75 %	640 106
Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1950	Sichuan	Tibetan	78.00 %			18.00 %	969 500
Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Qinghai	Tibetan	91.63 %			6.59 %	155 300
Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture	1956	Yunnan	Bai	32.80 %	Yi	12.94 %	50.35 %	3 480 000
Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1957	Yunnan	Tibetan	33.12 %	Lisu	27.78 %	16.39 %	374 500
Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous PrefectureО	1953	Yunnan	Dai	30.14 %	Jingpo	11.53 %	50.66 %	1 177 000
Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Kazakh	25.40 %	Uyghur	15.90 %	45.20 %	3 880 000
Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Kyrgyz	28.32%	Uyghur	63.98%	6.41%	500 007
Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture	1956	Gansu	Hui					1 942 800
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture	1952	Sichuan	Yi	44.00 %	Tibetan	1.50 %	52.00 %	4 484 000
Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Yunnan	Lisu	47.13 %	Bai	26.97 %	13.13 %	529 300
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Yunnan	Dai	29.89 %			29.11 %	1 064 000
Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	24.15 %	Hui	30.58 %	36.63 %	278 500
Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	62.77%			28.06%	427 900
Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Qinghai	Mongol	7.23 %	Tibetan	12.16 %	64.95 %	432 500
Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1953	Qinghai	Tibetan	66.32 %	Mongol	13.54 %	7.54 %	231 700
Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture	1957	Yunnan	Hani	16.60 %	Yi	23.57 %	44.31 %	4 373 000
Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture	1956	Guizhou	Miao	41.48 %	Dong	31.40 %	19,30 %	3 992 000
Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	1956	Guizhou	Buyei	32.46 %	Miao	13.37 %	43.37 %	3 723 000
Qianxi'nan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	1982	Guizhou	Buyei	30.04 %	Miao	7.51 %	57.53 %	3 012 000
Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture	1954	Xinjiang	Hui	11.55%	Kazakh	7.98%	75.14%	1 353 742
Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture	1958	Yunnan	Yi	26.31 %	Lisu	2.03 %	67.45 %	2 684 000
Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	1983	Hubei	Tujia	45.00 %	Miao	5.45 %	47.24 %	3 800 000
Gyêgu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture	1951	Qinghai	Tibetan	97.25 %			2.56%	310 800
Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture	1957	Hunan	Tujia	34.67 %	Miao	31.85 %		3 650 000
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture	1952	Jilin	Korean	36.3%			60.3%	2 184 000

Former autonomous prefectures of China

• Hainan Li and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (1952–1988) in Guangdong
• Qianjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (before 1997) in Sichuan

Administrative prefecture level units with a population of 30% or more of ethnic minorities

Excluding prefecture level units of Autonomous regions in 2000.

• Hebei: Chengde (Han - 55.32%, Manchu - 39.87%)
• Liaoning: Benxi (Han - 66.84%, Manchu - 30.22%), Dandong(Han - 64.11%, Manchu - 32.99%)
• Hunan: Zhangjiajie (Tujia - 68.40%, Han - 22.81%), Huaihua (Han - 61.33%, Dong - 17.42%, Miao - 15.63%)
• Guizhou: Anshun (Han - 61.6%, Buyei - 16.92%, Miao - 14.27%), Tongren (Tujia - 37.81%, Han - 31.76%, Miao - 14.87%, Dong - 11.41%)
• Yunnan: Yuxi (Han - 68,18%, Yi - 19,32%), Pu'er (Han - 40,92%, Hani - 16,98%, Yi - 16.58%, Lahu - 11.47%), Lijiang (Han - 42.71%, Nasi 20.51%, Yi - 18.68%, Lisu - 9.62%), Lincang (Han - 61.22%, Dai - 15.77%, Lahu and Va - 9.76%)
• Qinghai: Haidong (Han - 56.33%, Hui - 20.38%, Tibetan - 9.2%, Tu - 8.06%)

See also

• List of prefecture-level divisions of China

External links

• Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China